PS
metric horsepower
Powerexact by definition
The metric horsepower is exactly 75 kilogram-force metres per second, which is exactly 735.49875 watts. It is the horsepower of European vehicle specifications, written PS in German, CV in French and Spanish, and cavalli in Italian.
Watch out: It is 1.4 percent smaller than the mechanical horsepower. A car advertised at 300 PS is 296 hp, which is why the same engine gains or loses a few horsepower crossing the Atlantic in a magazine.
| 1 PS | 735.49875 W |
Where the unit came from
Defined in Germany in the 1930s as the power to lift 75 kg one metre in one second, a deliberately metric restatement of Watt's original horse-lifting-weight construction.
Solvers that use power